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Fuel Cells And Electrolyser Testing Facilities (FCTEST)

The Fuel Cell and Electrolyser Testing facility supports developments in Regulation through the experiment validation of testing procedures and measurement methodologies for the performance and durability of cells, short-stacks and small systems.

Details

Status
Closed
Reference
2023-2-RD-FCTEST
Publication date
5 June 2023
Opening date
Deadline model
Single-stage
Deadline date
31 July 2023, 23:59 (CEST)

Description

fctest_thum.jpg

 

At the Fuel Cell and Electrolyser Testing facility (FCTEST), we support technology assessment and progress monitoring as well as developments in harmonisation and standardisation through the validation of testing protocols, test procedures and measurement methods for the performance assessment of fuel cells and electrolysers. The facility is utilised to support the European Hydrogen Strategy aiming to create and enable a test environment to scale up renewable and low carbon hydrogen supply and demand for a climate-neutral economy.

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Priority topics of the FCTEST facility

  1. Testing of electrolyser and fuel cells (single cells, short-stacks & small systems);
  2. Environmental testing of system components, sub-systems and small systems;
  3. Testing of power devices.

Definition and conditions of access

Access to the research infrastructure is granted on the basis of Access Units (e.g. days or weeks of use, hours or sessions of beam time, processing time and gigabytes of data transmitted, etc.). Access Units are specific to the type and nature of each JRC research infrastructure that provides access.

For the FCTEST facility, the Unit of Access is 'Instrument days' which correspond to the use of one (1) instrument during one (1) day in the following list of equipment: 

  1. 100 kW low-temperature fuel cell test station (FCATS) with 120 kVA DC/AC load inverter and 72 kW DC load (equipment a.);
  2. 500 W high-temperature electrolysis & high-temperature fuel cell test station including furnace and EIS equipment for single cell & short stack testing (equipment b.);
  3. 5 kW high-temperature fuel cell test station including EIS equipment for short stack and mini-system testing (equipment c.);
  4. 3 kW and 500 W low-temperature fuel cell test station for single cell & short stack testing (equipment d.);
  5. 1.5 kW low-temperature electrolysis & fuel cell test station for single cell testing (equipment e.);
  6. Programmable modular 4x 24 kW DC load (sink) / 4x 10 kW power supply (source) test bench for power device testing (equipment f.);
  7. Walk-in environmental chamber (climate chamber) with control of temperature (-40°C to +60°C) and relative ambient air humidity (5% to 95%) for environmental testing (equipment g.);
  8. Multi-axial vibration table (shaker table) with a 500 kg pay load capability for frequencies up to 250 Hz housed in the climate chamber for mechanical shock and vibration testing (expected to be operational by September 2023) (equipment h.).
  • Estimated total number of Instrument days allocated to the call: 180
  • Estimated number of Instrument days per User Access Project: 60
  • Estimated maximum duration of the User Access Project: 12 months
  • Estimated additional costs excluding consumables and other expenses:
    • Research infrastructure operated by JRC staff: 435 € / instrument day*
    • Research infrastructure operated by users: not possible

* the cost of an instrument day is factored by the following amounts in accordance with the list of equipment:

  • 1.2 for equipment a.
  • 0.8 for equipment b. through e.
  • 0.4 for equipment f.
  • 1.6 for equipment g. and h.

Support to users for travel and subsistence

The JRC may provide a financial or in-kind contribution to support Users to cover their costs of travel and subsistence (T&S) related to the User Stay Days, subject to the availability of funds, personnel and other resources to Users from User Institutions located in a country eligible for the Widening Partipation and Spreading Excellence actions under the Horizon Europe programme.
Namely the countries are:
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and all Associated Countries with equivalent characteristics in terms of R&I performance (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Tunisia, Ukraine, Faroe Islands) and the Outermost Regions (defined in Art. 349 TFEU).

User Stay Day is a day of physical presence of a User at the concerned Research Infrastructure for Access related to the User Access Project. A User Stay Day counts as a registered entry to the JRC site where the Research Infrastructure is located.

  • Estimated total number of short-term User Stay Days eligible for T&S allocated to the call: 0
  • Estimated total number of long-term User Stay Days eligible for T&S allocated to the call: 0

A short-term stay corresponds to a stay of up to 20 User Stay Days.

A long-term stays corresponds to a stay exceeding 20 User Stay Days, up to a maximum of 200 User Stay Days.

Note: For the present calls the JRC cannot provide support for Travel and Subsistance. However, Users are welcome to visit FCTEST for the purposes of the User Access Project at their own cost.

For more information on the support offered to users please consult the Rules on the contribution to travel and subsistence expenses of external users.

The Lead User is invited to fill in the User travel and subsistence form and send it to JRC-ENERGY-STORAGEatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-ENERGY-STORAGE[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) by the closing date of the call. For more information the Lead User may contact the JRC Research Infrastructure at %20JRC-OPEN-NANOBIOTECHatec [dot] europa [dot] eu ( )JRC-ENERGY-STORAGEatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-ENERGY-STORAGE[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).

Allocation of intellectual property rights

  • The JRC and the entitled party (person or organisation that has been granted access) become co-owners in equal shares of all raw data, treated data and documentation data developed with respect to the access.

Eligibility criteria

  • The Lead User Institution and User Institutions (see definitions in the Framework) must be from an EU Member State, or country associated to the Horizon Europe programme.
  • The Lead User Institution must be from a university, research or public institution, or from a Small-Medium-Enterprise (SME).
  • User Institutions from international organisations, under the condition that the Lead User Institution and at least 2/3 of all the User Institutions (including the Lead User Institution) are located in a Member State or a country associated to Horizon Europe or to the Euratom research programme. In case of one or two User Institutions (including the Lead User Institutions), this requirement is only applied to the Lead User Institution.
  • Ethical considerations in accordance with EU Law, in particular Art. 19 of Regulation (EU) 2021/695, and applicable laws and regulations in the EU Member States.
  • The proposal submission form is complete and complies with the instructions.

Selection criteria

Proposals will be evaluated in accordance to the following selection criteria:

  • Scientific implementation (50 points)
  • Collaboration and access to new Users (20 points)
  • Strategic relevance (30 points)

How to apply

The proposal must be prepared using the Relevance-driven Proposal Submission Form.

The proposal must be accompanied by the List of Equipment:

13 JANUARY 2023
FCTEST List of Equipment Jan2023
English
(264.26 KB - DOCX)
Download

During preparation of the proposal, applicants are encouraged to:

  • Read the "Framework for Access to the physical Research Infrastructures of the JRC" and its annexes.
  • Contact the research infrastructure at JRC-ENERGY-STORAGEatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-ENERGY-STORAGE[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) to specify the level of experience of the User(s) to perform related tests and to assess feasibility aspects related to the capacity of the research infrastructure concerning:
    • Material
    • Test parameters,
    • Specimen geometry.

Proposal should be submitted to JRC-RI-OPEN-ACCESSatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-RI-OPEN-ACCESS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) by the closing date of the call, including the list of equipment to be used.

The User Selection Committee will only evaluate proposals that are complete and comply with the instructions in the proposal submission form.